Thousands of people in dreary Wales are contemplating a life abroad, with Australia and New Zealand the favourite destinations.

Thousands of people in dreary Wales are contemplating a life abroad, with Australia and New Zealand the favourite destinations. Fuelled by the Rugby World Cup, blockbuster Lord of the Rings and plenty of gap-years, scenes of life Down Under are drawing more and more people to consider emigrating. Catrin Pascoe reports

EVERYONE'S thinking about it. The "what-if" seed has been planted by friends returning from gap years, screens flashing idyllic scenes into our living rooms and in-tune bosses encouraging us to discover ourselves.

Daily wrestling with traffic jams, smog, the cold, mounting bills, property ladder rungs, stodgy food, rain, umbrellas and the shocking number of hours we work each week - water the thought that, maybe, just maybe, there is another way.

And yesterday, when the nation watched Wales beat Tonga - just - from under the covers on its precious day off, that distant-horizon notion grew again.

As many as four out of 10 under-35-year-olds are already planning to downshift from stressful jobs to a slower pace of life. Almost a million people aged 35 to 54 are making serious plans to downshift. Some 600,000 of those plan to downshift by 2006.

Around 440,000 under-35s planned to quit the rat race in the next three years and a further 900,000 within the next 10, suggests research from the Prudential.

And the temptation is to make that downshift in foreign climes - Australia, New Zealand, Canada, USA and Europe are the Big Five of the migration world.

Quitting the rat-race and opting for a better quality of life are the biggest draws - clean air and fresh living.

Australia and New Zealand today also enjoy the advantage of being brought direct into our living rooms by current images of the Rugby World Cup and antipodean tourist boards' ability to capitalise on awesome scenery depicted in Lord of the Rings, filmed on location in NZ's South Island.

Ian Johnson is director of Global Visas, a 10-year-old migration agency based in London.

He said, "People will be visiting Australia for the World Cup and we are anticipating we will get more inquiries on their return and they will be telling people what it's like out there."

In 2005 New Zealand will host the Lions tour, with more Northern Hemisphere fans visiting.

Picture swimming in the ocean every day, passionfruit for tea and a BBQ on the beach below the Southern Cross. And there's still rugby and great wine, too.

Canada was recently voted the best country in the world to live in because of its big country scenes, great cities and enviable school and welfare systems.

"There is an ideal people have in their minds," said Mr Johnson. "Also there's no language barrier to cross. If you are moving to Spain and France there are some cultural issues."

And best of all, if you want them, they need you. All cry out for skilled workers. Plus, Down Under you'll get a lot more for your money when average earnings in Wales are being outstripped by the nation's spiralling property prices.

No wonder young couples who have just celebrated the birth of their first child are the main applicants.

And people in Wales have always been a nomadic breed. We have populated a remote corner of the globe - Patagonia - for more than 135 years. Walk into any bar in Japan, Melbourne, New York, Toronto, and just listen for that Welsh lilt. Unroll a map of the world and let your child play dot-to-dot with Welsh societies helping people feel at home when they're thousands of miles away.

There's Cheryl Watson, a mother-of- three originally from Ammanford, who has spent 20 years tending a pineapple farm in Fiji. There's a taxi-driver in Seattle who used to drive in Cardiff. There's 30-year-old Sharon Howell, whose father David, from Bridgend, moved to Australia to make his engineering living. Today, she's part of the Rugby World Cup's medical team in Melbourne.

But today it's reaching record levels again. More than 135,000 British citizens left Old Blighty's shores in 2001 with plans to stay abroad for more than a year, latest figures show - one of the highest levels for years. Of those, almost 31,000 were heading for Australia; 15,500 for the United States; 8,300 for New Zealand and 6,000 for Canada.

And it's never been easier to do.

When people decided to make a break for foreign climes just 20 years ago it could prove a very daunting wrench. Travel was cumbersome and expensive; keeping in touch a costly gamble with operators, getting through and crackly lines. Families boarded ships in the 1960s never knowing when they would see those waving them off at the dockside again. Handwritten letters took days to arrive.

Today, mobile phones and e-mail have revolutionised telecommunications. Digital technology can now send photographs of a grandchild's birthday party across the globe at the touch of a button. Plus, shop around and it's far cheaper too. That should be enough to reassure any protective Welsh Mam.

And the explosion in air travel means Australia is just 24 hours away. Ticket prices are relatively low. Tickets to Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Cairns and Brisbane can be yours for less than #600 return each with national carriers British Airways or Qantas. Cities such as Perth and Darwin that are closer can be cheaper still.

Travel to NZ's Wellington, Christchurch or Auckland via the Middle East for about #630 return, including taxes. Flights to Canada take off from about #210. Flying to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where Welsh miners settled in the 1800s and early 1900s, costs about the same.

David Ezra, of specialist long-haul consultants Travel 2, said, "If you hunt around there are fantastic air fares that are available."

There are agencies, even towns, willing to help you through the complex process. It's a big business getting bigger.

The region of New Plymouth nestles on the west coast of New Zealand's North Island, population 70,000, next to volcanoes. This autumn the area known for its fishing has landed in the UK to try to tempt new blood by holding several seminars about its pros.

Tomorrow Cheshire-based migration service Four Corners Emigration will hold a question-and-answer session in Swansea and another in Cardiff on Wednesday.

Mr Johnson, of Global Visas, said, "Last year was one of the best years we have had in terms of numbers and over the last 12 months we have seen a marked increase - 30% in terms of people inquiring so it's certainly sizeable."

But stage the move, which can take 18 months to organise, carefully.

"Preparation is key. We advise people to make a visit. You would be surprised how many people begin an application who have never been to Australia or New Zealand, which in my view is a little scary. They are going on a promise of a lifestyle."

Solicitors John Morgan and Sarah Parsons have struck a deal with their Welsh bosses - they get to travel to Australasia for 10 months and Eversheds law firm in Cardiff will keep their jobs open.

John, 29, said, "It's a recruitment tool really."

He's keen to explore, and walk, and work, tasting a different lifestyle.

Sarah, 28, also from Cardiff, has sold her house and is debt-free. She looks forward to "not having anything predetermined, set by a clock, or by an appointment or being stuck in traffic."